The Hale Siblings
by Glee Klaine Fanboy
Summary: First installment in what I call my 'Teen Wolf Diaries' series. This fic gives an in-depth look into Cora and Derek's life stories so far, beginning with Cora's backstory following the fire. If you guys like this I'll follow it up with a second installment giving Stiles or Scott's backstories from childhood. I've been playing around with the idea for this series for some time.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

I never really minded leaving Beacon Hills. Derek minds, even if he'll lie and say he doesn't. Derek still considers it home. I haven't considered it that for a long time.

After the fire I believed everyone was dead, even Derek and Laura. I was wounded pretty bad from burns, staggering through the preserve, trying to make my way to Beacon Hills for help.

I was never to make it. All I remember is being ambushed by three figures along the way. I tried to turn around and run back to the house, but _she_ was on me in a flash- _Kali_.

She was nearly the same back then, confident and arrogant with a grip like steel. I was angry at that smug look she gave me, digging her claws into my arm without mercy.

"Little Cora Hale," she mused mockingly. "Look what I've caught."

That's when they stepped out of the shadows. The other two- _Ennis and Deucalion_.

You could see clearly something off about Deucalion's eyes, but I wouldn't have surmised he was blind.

"Now now Kali," he replied diplomatically. "No need to be rough with the girl."

Of course I hadn't known then that the alphas had known my mother. Doubtless they knew she was dead, looking back on the whole thing.

They took me far away from Beacon Hills to some distant compound. I still don't remember exactly where it was. I remember crying the entire way, thinking to myself that mama was dead. Laura and Derek were dead. All dead...

My memory is still a blank in parts. I seem to remember being kept in a windowless room for a few days. I don't think I want to entirely remember. I only remember grief if I try to envision it clearly.

I do remember Deucalion came to visit me. Don't let his gentlemanly ruse fool you. Deucalion can be very cruel. I'll still never understand why Derek spared his life.

Deucalion grabbed my arm at some point, sinking his claws into my skin as deep as they would go. I still remember the pain, and those horrible bloodshot eyes.

"You will remember nothing," he repeated to me over and over, those eyes penetrating and awful.

I still remember it all.

"You're in pain, grieving. Let me take it all away. Remember nothing. You're not Cora Hale. It will all become blank to you. You won't remember."

Deucalion kept repeating it, and something seemed to be happening to me. I went under like in a sea of dark water, losing consciousness. I didn't remember being Cora after that for a long time.

When I came to I was in an obviously northern region, lying in snow and ice-sheeted stubble. It was cold, and I had no idea who I was or where I'd come from.

I remember finding it all so strange. It seemed like I should remember something, something big, but trying made me feel an unexplainable sadness, and so I stopped. I only knew I hated that sadness. I didn't want to feel it.

It was so cold there in that field of ice, and it seems like I waited an eternity, not knowing anything. The snow occasionally picked up, making it difficult to see.

At some point I caught two scents, even despite that distinct fresh smell snow has. I was aware of them getting closer. Two red circles, and two amber-colored ones appeared in the flurry. Then the shapes were unmistakable.

An older woman with long, raven-black hair and wearing a scowl approached me. I found her red eyes intimidating. The amber eyes belonged to a slightly younger blond, male and obviously in his lower to mid-twenties.

The woman addressed me.

"What are you doing out here? Lost?"

Though her facial expression seemed irritated, and her tone severe, I could sense she wasn't going to hurt me, at least not yet. I tried to take my gaze from her fierce red eyes.

"Eyes on me girl!" she snapped, and something made me obey her, almost like an instinct. "Now for your very life, what are you doing here? Its clear to me you're one of us, but I know not if you're friend or foe."

"P-please," I replied suddenly, teeth chattering from being in the cold. "I don't even know who I am, or what I am. I swear... "

The woman seemed to inhale, her face becoming more livid and angry for a moment, but she believed me, because her more indifferent expression soon returned, scowl becoming less pronounced.

"You're not lying," she said, partly as though to herself. "You really don't remember anything? That's what you're telling me?"

This last part was asked with some skepticism, but I shook my head, and again, she seemed to know I wasn't lying.

She introduced herself to me as Leona, and her companion was Marcus. I didn't realize back then they were werewolves, because I didn't remember being one myself.

They soon led me to a snowmobile, parked only a few paces away, though you couldn't have seen it through the increasing rapid snow flurries.

I was instructed to hold onto Marcus. It was a tight fit, but we didn't go far. Only into a forest of evergreens caked with frozen snow. It was about a ten minute ride.

Beneath the canopy one's vision wasn't obscured so bad, and you could see clearly the house as you approached it. It was a giant cabin with two stories, a porch, spacious curtained windows, and a set of doors of what looked like Cherry wood.

The snowmobile was parked a little off to the side. The snow was still coming down, but not as bad as earlier.

I soon found myself stepping into a warm, cheerfully illuminated foyer that opened into a large living room with a fire burning in a grate.

Curious eyes shifted to me immediately, but not red or amber eyes. I'd noticed that Leona and Marcus's eyes were no longer strange either. They now looked like your average human.

The other eyes on me in that moment belonged to a boy even younger than Marcus, a girl not much younger than said boy, and an older woman with braided gray hair and a wrinkled face.

I couldn't tell if she was nice or mean because her gray eyes had a kind of hardness to them like Leona's.

There's two kinds of werewolf in this world, and my mother used to say it often enough when me and Derek were kids.

There's wolves that have a typical human idealism to their personality like Scott, with a tendency to try to tackle things in stride, maintaining a certain degree of cheer and positivity.

Then there's those like me, Derek, and Leona that life has made hard and seemingly cold.

I don't think our mother interacted with humans enough to know that this is true of them as well. Most people aren't as optimistic and outgoing as Stiles.

It was this pack of stranger-wolves I was destined to spend the next several years of my life with. Leona, Marcus, and as I soon learned- Will, Maria, and the old woman whose name is Dolly.

It was somewhat awkward, as you can imagine, when I couldn't even remember my own name during the introduction.

"And this is... "

Marcus had been forced to hesitate, eying me somewhat strangely.

"Never did get your name," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," I'd answered in a quiet voice, even for a small girl. "That is... I don't know... "

I could've sworn Old Dolly's scowl became a straight line, and Stiles probably would've found it hilarious. Fortunately Leona stepped in, clapping a hand on my shoulder, and saving me any awkwardness.

"Selena," she announced with authority, looking at them all like she expected to be obeyed. "Poor girl doesn't remember who she is, but to us she's Selena. Am I clear?"

"Whatever," Will shrugged, giving me a glance and a wink as an afterthought.

Derek probably wouldn't have let such a response to his orders pass when he was alpha, but Leona merely rolled her eyes at Will's antics.

Will is a blond like Marcus, and as I would later find out- his actual younger brother.

None of them are Leona's actual children like I initially thought, but Old Dolly is her actual mother.

Maria's of no relation to any of them, but she, Marcus, and Will are all pack recruits.

It wasn't long before I would come to see these people as my family, and the big cabin in the northern woods as my home.

Beacon Hills can never be to me what it is to Derek. It ceased being home back when I was so small I hardly remember it, even with the amnesia.

I didn't even remember Derek, or Laura, or mama, or Uncle Peter. I was a little girl with no memory of who she was, and all I knew was this nice werewolf pack that took me in as one of their own.

They were all I would know for a long time. I wouldn't even see Deucalion and the alphas again for several years.

At the time I was so blissfully unaware of the troubles that recently came to be mine. I remembered Derek completely in that vault with Boyd and Erica. I remembered mom, Laura, and Uncle Peter.

It wasn't until very recently I remembered all of it.

My life in that big cabin with my new family was wonderful for a girl with no memories. It would grow to be even more wonderful. I wasn't to know sorrow again for a long time.

In spite of losing my family in a fire and having no memory of anything- I was happy.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

I still possessed no memory whatsoever of being a werewolf. Maybe that's why it wasn't so strange to me when I learned it from Will. I'm not entirely sure Leona wanted me to know what I am, but maybe she did.

Whatever the case, I only found out after being with my new family a little over a week.

After the awkward introduction on the first night Old Dolly didn't stop giving me distrustful glances for some time.

The first was after Leona told them my name was to be Selena. The old woman's scowling glance fell on me immediately. It was Will who rescued me, and not for the last time.

"What about it Selena?" he piped up with a grin. "Would you like to come into the kitchen with me for some chocolate?"

I immediately found myself comfortable with him. Will's like the nicest werewolf you could ever meet, even putting Scott to shame.

"I'm actually a little hungry," I suggested, looking into his eyes for the first time, nice green eyes.

"No prob," he replied, grin widening. "We've got that too."

Will's actually a lot like I imagine Stiles as a werewolf. Will isn't quite as obnoxious or hyper, but their personalities are similar. That's part of why I like Stiles somewhat, not that I'd ever tell him that. He reminds me a lot of Will.

Stiles would be the first to offer a newcomer chocolate or food, and that was just like Will, who made me some really good Mac n' Cheese with a big steaming mug of cocoa.

I soon found out that Will actually fancied himself the cook, and again I think of Stiles, the guy always bringing massive amounts of food to pack meeting. Not that there will be anymore of those meetings for Derek and I...

I can only envision Will and Stiles meeting one another. It'd probably be love at first sight, which is just disturbing, and totally gross.

Will never really annoyed me though. As I said, he's not quite so obnoxious, just nice.

It was also Will that suggested I might like to be shown my room after I was done eating, saving me from Old Dolly's staring.

I'm sure that Will and I could have loved one another if he weren't so much older than I am. I was only a little girl at this time, and he was already just over 18.

I'll never forget my bedroom, or seeing it for the first time. In many ways its still the room I think of when I envision home, not the rapidly deteriorating house Derek thinks of almost non-stop.

My room- if you still want to call it mine, has nice polished wood floors with that nice cherry varnish for the walls like the front door has. The curtains are a nice emerald green that compliment it quite well.

The nicely made full-size bed was all too inviting in that moment, but I didn't want to seem rude to Will. I didn't need to say anything for him to get it though.

"Enjoy," he said with a cute little wave and a small smile.

Just like that I had my new bedroom all to myself. I may not have remembered all that transpired, but I had been out in the cold for what seemed forever that day. I felt absolutely exhausted.

When my head hit my new, very comfortable pillows I only felt a brief twinge of being out of place. I tried to wrack my brains for where I might have last slept in a bed like that, but it only brought me that same unexplainable feeling of tragedy and grief.

My mind quickly hedged itself, not wanting to explore the sadness. I thought of Leona, Marcus, and Will, and the bad feelings were quickly gone.

I remember dreaming that night about fire, though I didn't know what it meant. I found myself in a dark room surrounded by leaping, crackling flames.

I barely remembered it the next morning, and it gave me a feeling of not sadness, but dread to try to think about it.

Will and Marcus soon took my mind off the bad when I entered the kitchen and found the table set with a breakfast fit for kings. There were pancakes and syrup, scrambled eggs, sausages, and a big pot of oatmeal that gave off a subtle touch of cinnamon.

Old Dolly was the only thing out of place, as that distrustful scowl fixed on me again, but it seemed a little less than the night before. Leona wouldn't be joining us. She was off handling 'pack business', but I figured it wasn't really my concern what that meant.

I could tell Old Dolly wanted to say something in my direction as we ate, but something seemed to keep her silent. Will kept giving me his nice smile, and Marcus did the same less frequently. Maria seemed only a little distrustful, but that would soon change.

Marcus was Leona's second in command, and after breakfast he asked me if I wanted to help Maria fold laundry and clean. It was he and Will's job to do stuff like chop and bring in the firewood.

I was sitting on the couch folding when Maria finally spoke up.

"You're very quiet Selena," she remarked, look still slightly hesitant. "Its strange you have no memory."

I suddenly felt a rush of that emotion again at her words, like I should remember something important.

"I feel like I want to remember," I told her quietly. "Only I... "

I thought about the sadness, and suddenly it was upon me again. Maria must have noticed.

"Why sad Selena? Maybe what you can't remember is something bad."

I felt a rush of deeper sadness mingled with panic, and I suddenly didn't doubt that what she was saying was true. My mind suddenly went back to my fire dream, but it seemed so distant I couldn't grasp it.

My mood remained somewhat depressed until our one o'clock lunch. Will made us all sandwiches, and it surprised me he stacked them with three different types of lunch meat, but my taste buds certainly weren't complaining.

I bit into ham, turkey, salami, and creamy mayo appreciatively. Will seemed a little more somber this afternoon I noticed, and it was that moment Leona decided to show up.

"Training," she announced, grabbing up a sandwich and taking a big bite.

"Training?" I asked strangely.

"Never you mind," she said to me. "You're staying here with Dolly."

Something in me dreaded this, but I needn't have worried. Old Dolly didn't even come down from her bedroom the entire three hours, but the sudden silence of lonliness hit me in a strange way.

Again it seemed like there was something I should get, should feel. I passed the time by reading some of the books from the bookshelf. I think it was the first time I ever read Dickens, but somehow _A Christmas Carol _seemed familiar to me. I wasn't even surprised when Scrooge suddenly found himself alive and in his bed on Christmas morning.

I put it aside, discovering from the antique clock on the mantel that nearly three hours had gone. This was beginning to seem like unending eternity again like out in the snow.

Trying to think back before that brought me that same terrible grief, and I decided to pick another book, but the sound of footsteps stopped me.

They were all back and looking a little dishelved like they'd been rolling around in the snow. Will managed to crack a smile at me, and asked me if I wanted to help fix dinner. I was delighted.

I helped make the mashed potatoes by pouring in the cream and butter Will measured out for me. Everything was wonderful, even in spite of Old Dolly's looks, until I went to bed again.

I realized I was in the strange fire room again, but this time I smelt smoke. I heard a woman screaming, and it pierced me right to my soul.

I wasn't alone. A taller figure was with me, but they were only a shadow. I found myself reaching for this person, but they were walking away. I might have cried out.

"Selena?"

I was suddenly being shaken. The fire, the shadow, all gone.

My eyes slowly opened and Will was looking down at me with a concerned expression.

"You alright?" he asked gently. "You were crying out."

"Bad dream," I said in a quiet little voice, tears falling down my face. "Fire."

Will looked strange for a moment, as though he understood something, but he pulled me into a comforting embrace.

"I'll be alright Selena," he told me over and over.

I refused to go back to sleep unless he stayed with me, but he did me one even better. I got to sleep in his bed with him, and cuddled into Will I fell into a happier, more restful sleep with no dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

I didn't dream about any fires or strange shadow personages the next night, or even the night after that. Sometimes I did feel a strange sensation coupled with the idea none of it was right, and I should remember somewhere else. I was fairly certain during these episodes that I wasn't Selena, and I couldn't ever truly be her. Then Will or Maria would cheer me, making it all seem better.

Then suddenly the dream returned and with more vivid details than ever. I saw the shadowy figure, feeling the heat of a real fire. Blueish-green eyes gazed on me from the shadows, but I couldn't see a face.

"Ora," a male voice spoke, shadow hand reaching out to me. "Ora... "

'Ora' stirred something in me, but I still couldn't remember. I only now realize looking back that it was Derek I was dreaming about.

Derek and Laura were both older than me, and neither of them paid me much attention in the old days. Derek and I still aren't awfully close, but that's due to emotional hangups on both our parts.

Derek did save my life, giving up his alpha status for me. Maybe he cares more than I'd always thought.

I asked if we could go to New York after we left home again, but Derek said no, that he really didn't want to face his last memories of Laura.

I only knew Laura had left New York to return home to handle werewolf business. A rogue wolf had been spotted in our family's territory, and was stirring unrest.

That wolf of course turned out to be Uncle Peter, and Laura had fallen right into his trap. Derek went back to learn what happened, believing Uncle Peter to still be catatonic, and completely uninvolved. Even I can't entirely forgive Uncle Peter for all he's done.

Derek doesn't entirely hate him, even after all of it, and in a way I don't either. I don't entirely hate him, I just can't entirely forgive him.

Derek says Peter is all we've got left. Derek said he tried to kill Peter again shortly after Lydia raised him from the dead, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

It was Derek I dreamed of back during those days, but I didn't know it at the time. The dream had been more vivid, but it hadn't unhinged me as badly. The real surprise had come from Old Dolly at breakfast that morning.

Leona was gone again, as I learned she often was early in the day, and on rare occasion longer, even days.

I'd been shaking so badly trying to pour my orange juice, as Will, Marcus, and Maria watched me with worried looks. It was the dreams and not remembering anything causing my nerves.

"Well," Old Dolly spoke quite suddenly. "One of you young men gonna help the little lady?"

I was so surprised I could've dropped the pitcher, but Will took it from me with a small smile. Of course I told him about my dream later that day.

"Ora," Will repeated back to me strangely. "Does it mean anything to you?"

"Seems like it should," I replied, rubbing my forehead like I suddenly had a headache. "I just can't remember! Its not just dreams. Sometimes I feel like I'm buring up inside."

Will looked more worried at that. That's when he told me everything.

"Selena," he began gently. "There's something we've been debating telling you, but you need to know. It'll be worse on full moon if you don't."

I was a little surprised.

"Full moon?" I asked curiously.

"Yes Selena. That's when we change, or I should say our other sides exert the most control. You're a werewolf Selena. I'm a werewolf."

I was slowly shaking my head in disbelief, but Will raised his hand, eyes glowing that amber color I'd only seen from Marcus before. Yet I felt a sinking feeling I'd seen it somewhere else.

Will's fingernails were lengthening. No it was claws! I gasped in surprise at his face, now slightly transformed by wolfish features.

"You can do it too Selena," he said through fangs.

I focused on my fingernails, and felt a slight pain like razors beneath my skin, trying to push out. I looked now at my own clawed hands. It was all true. I was a werewolf.

Will looked pained when his features returned to normal.

"I'm sorry Selena," he almost whispered with sorrowful eyes. "Leona wasn't sure you should know."

"Is this what I am?" I asked in disbelief. "Did I come from a family of... what we are?"

"I don't know that," he told me. "You're our pack now. Right?"

Yes, I was. I became their pack, and that loyalty never shifted until I was reconciled with Derek years later. Part of me hated it when my werewolf body naturally shifted its allegiance to my own kin, my brother as my alpha.

After Derek lost his alpha status suddenly I felt allegiance to Leona again, as though I'd never stopped. Whatever Derek had held over me was gone. We were both betas again.

In a way it makes it easier for us to be more open with one another. Being betas puts us on the same playing field, so to speak.

As for Derek's allegience to any alpha, its Scott. Derek tried to explain it to me, that his feelings and relationship with Scott had shifted in his mind. It was no longer friendship and loyalty, but an innate instinct to protect Scott, and a sense that he made a better leader.

In spite of that, Derek isn't ready to go back yet, and neither am I.

After I found out what I was from Will it was soon agreed to by Leona that I could train. The bitter cold presented quite a challenge, but not one our werewolf bodies can't handle.

It continued this way for months, and then a few years had passed. In all that time I never remembered being Cora, but I did eventually remember terrible bloodshot eyes boring into mine.

"Remember nothing," the man's voice came back to me in a dream one night. "You're not Ora Ale. Remember... "

I woke up sticky with sweat and unexplainably hot.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

I continued having that dream from time to time, but I only remembered being glared down by terrible bloodshot eyes. That begin to more frequently replace even my fire dream. I dreamed about Derek less, but some nights that dream in particular was longer.

I ran from the burning house. I could see it. Why did it seem so terribly familiar to me, even up in flames? The woods around the house seemed too familiar. It was all too familiar, and I would always wake up feeling a terrible sadness.

On one occassion I even dreamed I tried running into those woods, but was approached by three shadows. I woke up after that feeling absolutely terrified. It seemed to me that the horrible bloodshot eyes could belong to one of them.

I'd began piecing together various things about my old life. I was 16 by this time, and had been with Leona's pack since I was small. Now with these dreams I'd begun to realize I must be dreaming about my old home.

Wasn't the hazel-eyed shadow in the burning bedroom someone I should recognize?

"Could've been... " I'd mused aloud to myself.

I had been sitting on my bed trying to put it all into proper order, assuming it was memories of my old live. I was trying to remember who the hazel eyed person could be.

"Could've been... "

I paused suddenly, feeling a wave of terror washing over me as it unexplainedly came to me.

"Derek," I'd muttered the name aloud.

Then a whole barrage of emotions seemed to crash directly into me. Other things came back like images flooding into my mind. I saw Laura, I saw... mama.

Tears were streaking down my face as my brain suddenly connected it all to the burning house.

I was remembering my family, and they were dead. They were all dead, and I don't know any the wiser back then. I couldn't have known Derek and Laura were alive in New York. I only believed everyone to be dead.

I sobbed into my pillows, and of course I should've known one of them would hear.

I barely registered the door creaking open. I felt that hand on my shoulder.

"Selena," Will spoke gently.

I'd practically shrieked at him.

"I'm not Selena!"

You see I'd even finally remembered my name at last. I was Cora.

"Selena?" Will asked me concernedly. "I want to help."

"My name's Cora!" I remember shouting through tears. "I'm Cora, and I... "

I literally fell apart, throwing myself into Will's embrace.

"I remember," I sobbed into his shirt. "My family's gone Will! All dead!"

"Se- Cora," he said gently, correcting himself. "Look at me."

Will must've thought I looked like such a little girl in that state, but he only smiled with compassion, cradling my hand gently.

"I'm sorry Cora," he spoke in the softest of tones. "I know it can't replace your real family, but aren't we family? Aren't I your brother?"

I was taken aback by his frankness, and I hadn't even told him about Derek, but he was absolutely right in a way. I hugged him again. Yes, Will was like my brother too. This had become like my new family.

My heart still felt heavy if I thought about what I'd lost, but then I remembered what I'd gained. Will, Marcus, Maria, Leona, and even Old Dolly- they loved me.

Reminding myself of that helped my loss, but it would take time to heal, and I still haven't completely, but at least I've got Derek after all. I love Derek more than I can say.

It was memories of Mama that hurt more than anything. Mama our family's strong alpha, our anchor. Derek looks so like Mama with his eyes and dark hair.

It was memories of Mama that could still make me cry, and I wondered if it was okay to be loyal to Leona. Was it betraying her? I remembered the omega, the lone wolf.

I tried to go back to like things were, but I never could. It kept weighing on my mind that maybe loyalty to Leona was an insult to Mama's memory. I realize now it was silly, but I still did what I did. I told them all I wanted to go out on my own for awhile, just to sort everything out.

Will was of course the saddest to see me go, but Maria also felt she was losing a conversation partner and friend. Marcus told me I was like his sister, and never to forget it. Even Old Dolly had a few words for me.

"Take care of yourself girly," she said with a grim look, but her gray eyes reflected some affection.

I'd learned by then that Old Dolly doesn't talk a lot period. I had been wrong about her initial distrust of me. She'd never hated me.

"Remember you've always got a pack with us," Leona reminded me. "My little Selena... "

I didn't bother to correct her. Eventually I'd accepted I would always be Selena to them.

Will had words for me on the afternoon of my departure. They'd of course packed me plenty of food, and made sure I'd dressed warmly.

Will placed his hand on my shoulder, eyes locking with mine with the utmost love and care.

"You've never been far from the cabin, so you don't know it Cora. This is north Alaska. You said you believed your old home was in California. Do you know the way?"

"Not sure I'm going there," I said honestly. "If I do, yes. I know."

Will seemed to consider me a long moment.

"I can't go with you, and you probably wouldn't let me. You will come back and visit us?"

"Of course," I'd said with a disbelieving look.

I'd given him a hug that held all my heart. Will had been the hardest to leave behind, and I thought about him much that first day I'd set out. I realized I loved him, but Will would never see me as anything more than a sister.

Little could I have known that the day I set out on my own was one of the last times I'd see the light of the sun for nearly a year.

The night came cold, and something seemed forboding about it. I'd decided to head for home after all. Maybe someone else had survived, and I had to know.

I'd just kindled a fire to have a quick supper before sprinting further south. I had to be close to Canada.

I remember I really bad feeling settling over me. I tried to fly, but claws dug into my arm, and I remembered now the face leering at me. It was Kali.

"I see you couldn't follow instructions," she hissed at me, her face livid and cruel. "You were told not to remember. Bad mistake leaving your new pack girl. We were content to let you stay where you were."

I tried to pull away from her, but it was no good. Two others were next to us quite suddenly. I know them now, but back then I'd never seen Ethan and Aiden before.

Ethan looked a little uncomfortable for my sake at Kali's claws dug into my flesh, but Aiden looked almost as cruel, smirking.

Kali looked at him suddenly. Aiden seemed to get her glance. Something penetrated my arm quite suddenly, and I felt a burning.

Ethan fixed me with a grim expression, extracting the serenge from my flesh. I was already going under from whatever he'd given me.

After that my mind went dark and blank for what seemed a long time.


End file.
